I just thought of something that is very unique with the Anarres society but never mentioned

[Sofiab]

It was (as far as we know) founded with total consensus.
All the people that came to the moon was a Odonian who went there to create a anarchistic world. When would this ever happen in real life? There people with different world views have to live side by side.

What would have happened if there where no livable moon to put them at, like it is with the rebells Shevek meet on Uras? It seems like they don't believe in voting so they can't vote to have a anarchistic society. And not everyone would want to live in a anarchy. Would some of the people have anarchy while other people lived along side with them with laws and leaders to govern them.
Just something I thought about.

[Lesley]

I think there was a passing mention of people from the moon who decided to go back to the planet - which is how Shevek leaves, after all. I presume it occasionally worked the other way, too. I imagine it would be something like the situation between Cuba and the US in real life.

[Tiredstars]

This is probably the biggest conceit in the book. How you go about transitioning from one kind of society to another, and how different types of society work alongside one another (or don't) is always messy. The Dispossessed skips over that by splitting the two societies cleanly apart.

Plenty of people would argue - like the dominant view on Anarres - that a capitalist system is inherently aggressively expansionary, and will always encroach (violently) on groups who try and create alternatives. I think The Dispossessed specifically doesn't make that argument, although it doesn't refute it either.

IIRC, there were miners on Anarres who returned to Urras, along with some who stayed. After that, though, Shevek appears to have been the first person to travel to Urras. People from Urras travelling to Anarres was prohibited by the terms of settlement - an arrangement that suited both societies.

For religion, Shevek does get upset when someone suggests that they have no religion, and are simply materialists. The book doesn't really go into it, but Odonianism has different modes of thought, one of which seems to translate as spiritual or religious. I don't think it's necessarily what we would think of as religion though. It's definitely not religion as in an external God who imposes a moral order.

I think Le Guin sees all these kinds of thought as part of a unified whole. Shevek's breakthrough is to unify apparently contradictory ways of thinking into one (remember the Hain criticise science on Urras as too materialistic, while the Terrans say the opposite - but both of those societies have great scientific and technological prowess).

[Sofiab]

Tiredstars wrote: "The book doesn't really go into it, but Odonianism has different modes of thought, one of which seems to translate as spiritual or religious."

Yes this was how I saw it too.
I feel like the Odonians saw religion as believing in supernatural things. Or maybe just the reflecting over the concept of such.

[Tiredstars]

I may have to go back and skim through for the bits on religion and modes of thought.
I never got any sense that the Anarres had any beliefs in the supernatural. However I'm not sure that natural/supernatural is a distinction they'd agree with.

It might be important to remember that we're talking about modes of thought here. They are different ways of investigating the same reality. Scientific thought has implications for ethics, and presumably vice-versa. Whether spirituality is an investigation of great patterns in the universe, an individual's transcendent experiences or whatever, there is a give-and-take between scientific, ethical, social and other types of thought.

[Jesse]

I also failed to pick up on the notion that they had any religious/supernatural beliefs running along side their political views. Time for a re-read.

[Niels]

A lot of (persecuted) religious minorities emigrated to the New World to set up isolated societies... like the Amish people.

Also as far as I remeber they had a completely new language developed before emigrating, so their ideology was already burned into the very way they would teach their children about the world. Maybe you could call that religion?

But it is very interesting how Le Guin manage to paint a picture of a society that has in practice internalised and reframed their de facto slavery as a form of opposition to their masters:
They're completely aware that the Anarres economy is deeply dependent on the ressources they produce, but choose to live in poverty because they're afraid to be invaded if they increase prices to a more reasonable level.

So to answer OP: The Anarres elite got rid of their revolutionaries and are laughing their asses off, while the rebels are stranded on a sucky moon unable or unwilling to admit to their mistake.

[Mehmet]

Basically, what you are suggesting is the real world that we are living in. We have anarchists as well but they do not have any special place that they can live in, unbound with the laws of major societies (as far as I know). This causes some people to do this by their own, moving to rural areas and living independently from the money and the society, or joining the farms that no money is used but people working together and consuming what they produce.

Book is rather inspecting the chance of "what if those anarchist people build their own society? They even have that moon that they can live on!"

There are socialist and communist parties that people are voting for in real life and people who have anarchistic views might be voting them, eventhough they dream about a world without electing people, they might believe that a socialist or communist regime might be the best option to give way to their dream life style.

[Niels]

That kind of isolation is pretty impossible in today's globalised world, but hey, that's the kind of social experiments sci-fi is for ;)

[Tiredstars]

But it is very interesting how Le Guin manage to paint a picture of a society that has in practice internalised and reframed their de facto slavery as a form of opposition to their masters:

They're completely aware that the Anarres economy is deeply dependent on the ressources they produce, but choose to live in poverty because they're afraid to be invaded if they increase prices to a more reasonable level.

So to answer OP: The Anarres elite got rid of their revolutionaries and are laughing their asses off, while the rebels are stranded on a sucky moon unable or unwilling to admit to their mistake.

I wouldn't be as harsh on the people of Urras, but it is interesting that they are effectively buying off the Anarres elites to leave them alone. Would Anarres hesitate to invade Urras if it was economically worthwhile? Almost certainly not. The people of Urras are unable or unwilling to fight off this sort of attack (probably a mix of both).

They've been given space to organise their own society and economy, but they haven't broken that power relation. Or so it seems - in fact, while they're losing out economically, they're winning ideologically. It's important to remember that even if the people of Urras appear poor, they still seem to be better off materially - let alone in other senses - than most of the people of Anarres.

In the longer run, the example of Urras to the workers of Anarres may be much more valuable to Urras than improving living standards by squeezing out better terms of trade. It's changing the political & social situation on Anarres that will change the power relationship with Urras.